Oh dear... where do I start? 50 Plates is a perfect example of a place that focused a little too much on presentation and not enough on the actual food quality. My friends and I decided to try this place because it looked interesting. And interesting it was.
As soon as you walk in, you see a map of the United States using each state's license plate. Like the restaurant itself, this was a cool idea. The whole concept of 50 Plates is that each dish is from one of the fifty states. Ironically, this concept was nowhere to be found on the menu, and to this day, I still have no idea what state my "Dirty Rice" Beignets represented.
The atmosphere was modern and dark. As soon as we were seated at a table a little too close to two women who seemed to be on the verge of their mid-life crises, we were told that water was free. Wait a minute -- our water was FREE? Isn't this America? We soon learned that this feeling of ridiculousness would be the common theme of our dinner.
Our waiter (who, according to one of my friends, is quite cute) brought us two jars of sparkling and still water, which were much appreciated. The bread (also free!) consisted of too-chewy sourdough rolls and tiny biscuits.
I had read online that we should order many "Smaller Plates" instead of individual "Larger Plates," so we shared seven plates: Chicken Nuggets, "Dirty Rice" Beignets, Castroville Artichoke Rolls, Oregon Dungeness Crab Jalapeno Poppers, Cheesy Poofs, Roasted Mushrooms "Sam Ward", Patrick's Fries, and something else that I don't remember. The roasted mushrooms dish was the only one we really liked. The chicken nuggets, artichoke roles, cheesy poofs, and fries were pretty good, but the portions were small.
One of the best things about 50 Plates was the ending: while paying our bill, we were given literally a spoonful each of delicious chocolate ganache. Why couldn't the rest of our meal be this tasty? The bill came out to about $13 each, which wasn't a bad price for dinner in the Pearl, but nowhere near as good enough to make us ever want to come back. As my friend described it, we had just eaten at an overpriced fast food restaurant. I will say, however, that my friends and I had a pretty fun time critiquing it.
50 Plates (Pearl District)333 NW 13th Ave.
Portland, Oregon
Mon-Wed 11:30am-10pm
Thu-Sat 11:30am-11pm
~$14 for sharing 7 smaller plates
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